CagedTornado
08-11-2001, 12:12 AM
I am a (soon to be ex) customer of Cardservice International. I wanted to share my recent experiences with them, in the hopes that I can enlighten anyone who was considering them.
Basically, I think you should walk away from them.
On second thought, run.
Here's my story:
Around the end of May, I decided that I needed to accept credit cards, for my hosting business. My hosting provider at the time (I've since moved) was OLM (http://www.olm.net). Because they touted a Cardservice International merchant account with a 'good' setup fee ($129), and a 'good' monthly fee ($25/month) to their resellers, I decided that I'd go ahead and take the plunge and sign up.
:mad:
Man, was that a mistake.
Here are my reasons:
-The 'agent' for my account is listed as OLM. (Specifically, it's cs@olm.net). The agent is (as best I can tell) responsible for getting a customer -- namely me -- to sign up for a merchant account. They're supposed to also provide limited support for my account, and help me setup my system so that I can process cards. I tried on numerous occasions to contact my agent -- and my requests fell on deaf ears -- I didn't hear anything back.
-The Linkpoint (http://www.linkpoint.net) system (the service that Cardservice provides so that I can process cards from my site) actually went down for a day in June! Cardservice made no effort to inform its customers that it was going down -- or that it was currently down. They admitted it after the fact, and made no attempt to remedy the situation.
:eek:
-Cardservice charges miscellaneous fees (in addition to the gateway, terminal, and transaction fees stated on the contract). My total monthly bill (even when I don't have any activity on the account) is over $42!
:bawling:
-Here is the kicker, for me: Unless you read the contract really carefully you don't notice that you sign up for a 6 month recurring contract with them -- and the penalty for early cancellation in any one of those six month terms is $300!.
:angry:
The remedy? Well, here's what I'm currently doing -- let me know what you folks think: Because Cardservice's gateway went down, and because they made no attempt to remedy the situation I feel that they didn't offer the services stipulated in the contract -- and that the contract is null and void. So, I'm having my bank dispute any further charges from them and asking Cardservices to cancel my account -- without the $300 fee (or it will be disputed as well).
I also chatted with Jack Wilson at ECHO Inc. (http://www.echo-inc.com), and was so impressed with their customer service, their fee structure (only $10 if you have activity on the account -- no monthly fee if you don't have any activity), their developer support -- for building custom tools for their gateway, and their transaction fees (1.99% - 2.49% + .30 per transaction) I decided to sign up with them.
Dan
Basically, I think you should walk away from them.
On second thought, run.
Here's my story:
Around the end of May, I decided that I needed to accept credit cards, for my hosting business. My hosting provider at the time (I've since moved) was OLM (http://www.olm.net). Because they touted a Cardservice International merchant account with a 'good' setup fee ($129), and a 'good' monthly fee ($25/month) to their resellers, I decided that I'd go ahead and take the plunge and sign up.
:mad:
Man, was that a mistake.
Here are my reasons:
-The 'agent' for my account is listed as OLM. (Specifically, it's cs@olm.net). The agent is (as best I can tell) responsible for getting a customer -- namely me -- to sign up for a merchant account. They're supposed to also provide limited support for my account, and help me setup my system so that I can process cards. I tried on numerous occasions to contact my agent -- and my requests fell on deaf ears -- I didn't hear anything back.
-The Linkpoint (http://www.linkpoint.net) system (the service that Cardservice provides so that I can process cards from my site) actually went down for a day in June! Cardservice made no effort to inform its customers that it was going down -- or that it was currently down. They admitted it after the fact, and made no attempt to remedy the situation.
:eek:
-Cardservice charges miscellaneous fees (in addition to the gateway, terminal, and transaction fees stated on the contract). My total monthly bill (even when I don't have any activity on the account) is over $42!
:bawling:
-Here is the kicker, for me: Unless you read the contract really carefully you don't notice that you sign up for a 6 month recurring contract with them -- and the penalty for early cancellation in any one of those six month terms is $300!.
:angry:
The remedy? Well, here's what I'm currently doing -- let me know what you folks think: Because Cardservice's gateway went down, and because they made no attempt to remedy the situation I feel that they didn't offer the services stipulated in the contract -- and that the contract is null and void. So, I'm having my bank dispute any further charges from them and asking Cardservices to cancel my account -- without the $300 fee (or it will be disputed as well).
I also chatted with Jack Wilson at ECHO Inc. (http://www.echo-inc.com), and was so impressed with their customer service, their fee structure (only $10 if you have activity on the account -- no monthly fee if you don't have any activity), their developer support -- for building custom tools for their gateway, and their transaction fees (1.99% - 2.49% + .30 per transaction) I decided to sign up with them.
Dan